Daphne's Second Show

Could this trio be the true saviours of sketch?

There's a theory that a second Fringe comedy show is far harder than your first. A debut allows you to potentially cram in all your best routines, jokes or sketches from years of work while a follow-up requires you to create something excitingly new in the mere course of around 10 months. If that sounds even vaguely like a credible basis to excuse failure, then the Daphne trio simply blow that notion out of the water.

Phil Wang, Jason Forbes and George Fouracres are continuing to thrive with gleefully daft, gag-filled routines while refreshingly avoiding the tired old trap of having one of them play the stooge role: the pendulum of power swings between them all throughout, keeping us on our toes and guessing which one will be the victim next.

Their love of messing around with common phrases is rife so that 'self checkout' and 'black widow' offer spot-on punchlines while you might never watch an episode of Frasier with quite the same eyes again. At the very least, Daphne have matched the inventiveness of their superb 2015 debut. In doing so, they may well have breathed life into the Fringe sketch comedy genre which has been hobbling around on its last legs in recent times.

The quick-thinking trio of Phil Wang, Jason Forbes and George Fouracres won Best New Act at London SketchFest 2015 and were showered with critical praise at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Emboldened by their initial forays into sketch comedy, the quick-witted threesome unveil new characters, more dramatic pauses…